71 - JOAN MIRÓ (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983).

JOAN MIRÓ (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983). "Espriu-Miró", 1975. Etching, aquatint and carborundum. Copy 4/50. Signed and numbered by hand. Certified by the Fundació Joan Miró on the back. Work catalogued in J. Dupin, Miró engraver, vol. III. Measurements: 89 × 71 cm; 98 × 79.5 cm (frame). The title of this Miró engraving alludes to the dialogue between Joan Miró and Salvador Espriu, two essential figures of contemporary Catalan culture. The work proposes subtle correspondences between image and word, between plastic gesture and poetic resonance. Miró transforms the graphic space into an open, vibrant and lyrical territory, where color, line and sign act as vehicles of energy and creative freedom. "Espriu-Miró" illustrates the intense graphic activity developed by Miró during his mature stage, when the artist took printmaking techniques to a terrain of great plastic freedom. The composition is articulated by means of wide color fields, which coexist with diluted stains, linear signs and spontaneous-looking strokes. Joan Miró trained in Barcelona, where he had his first solo exhibition in 1918 at the Dalmau Galleries. In 1920 he moved to Paris, coming into contact with the surrealist circle, where he developed his own language based on free association, memory and the irrational. His international recognition came soon: in 1928 the MoMA in New York acquired his works, and in 1941 he was the subject of a major retrospective. Throughout his career he received important distinctions, such as awards at the Venice Biennale and the Guggenheim Foundation, as well as the Gold Medals of Fine Arts and the Generalitat de Catalunya. His work is now held in leading institutions such as the Joan Miró Foundation (Barcelona), the MoMA (New York), the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid), the National Gallery of Art (Washington) and the Centre Pompidou (Paris).